Joan Sutherland - John Alexander - Libiamo - La Traviata - 1975

[MeehanJunction]

John Alexander was born in Meridian, MS 11/21/23 and died 12/9/90 also in Meridian, MS. He had given a concert and upon finishing it walked off the stage and died of a massive hear attack. Johnny Frank, as we knew him, gave local concerts and one I remember when I was 9 or 10 he sang two arias which have always been with me. One was "Waft her angels thru th' skies" & I never heard it again for 50 years and I remembered every word of it. He was a marvelous singer and greatly missed !

[emma41093]

Is this available to purchase??

[GUACHON18]

Dedicado a Luis Veliz Peña de Talento Chileno.

[bellini7verdi]

cuando se tiene clase esta claro que se es imbatible.eso es joan sutherland.clase y poder.una verdadera traviata.el centro de atencion.como corresponde al personaje.

[mauriciomille]

she looks like a martian! hehe

[Cedricfollyman]

hmm, a thoroughly convincing alfredo and a lovely, resonant violetta. Love it!

[webbersarahlover]

mmmm.....dont like the voices at all

[Kdn89b]

excellent!!!!!

[1155north]

John was hardly young - he was older than Pavarotti (I don't know how many years older) and I believe had come back from bypass surgery. He was really an amazing singer - his teacher was the baritone Robert Weede. I'm not dissing Mr. Pavarotti in any way, I just feel that John was never as appreciated as he might have been.

[1155north]

I actually heard John outsing Pavarotti - it was in Mozart's Idomeneo - his voice was fresher, easier, more even scale and somewhat more resonant. I sang with John, it was one of the easiest, most untampered with singing techniques I ever heard/saw, no matter who you name.

[Mooorhe]

The date was 1982/3 however, when Pavarotti was past his peak.

It's interesting that his voice aged so well with vowels as open as di Stefano's.

[Dymension]

It wasn't difficult. John sang everything up to Lohengrin because he had the pipes...

[Mooorhe]

That was pretty damn good! I wish it had been Pavarotti/Sutherland though.

[jmccracken1963]

Actually, Pavarotti appeared only in LA BOHEME on the Met's 1975 Japan tour. This performance is from June 6, 1975. Richard Bonynge conducts. Others in the cast include Jean Kraft (Flora), Arthur Thompson (Baron Douphol), Frederick Burchinal (Marquis d'Obigny), Edmond Karlsrud (Dr. Grenvil), Ann Florio (Annina), and Douglas Ahlstedt (Gastone). Truly a Friday night to remember...

[Mooorhe]

Indeed, Pavarotti only sang Rodolfo on that tour. A huge shame, because we missed out on an opportunity to have a video recording of La Traviata with Pavarotti and Sutherland while both were singing at their best.

[jmccracken1963]

I heartily agree with you. The audio recording of a live "La Traviata" from the Met in 1970-71 with Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, and Bonynge catches NOBODY at near their best - in fact, it's a highly slipshod performance. One of those performances in which the sum of its parts falls WAY short of the whole.

[Mooorhe]

If it's the famous 1970 La Traviata you are referring to, I somewhat disagree. Sutherland is not at her best, but Pavarotti is ravishing in my opinion. He sings Parigi o cara with amazing attention to the score, even observing the difficult descrescendo on the high A flat to great effect.

Milnes had an unfortunate tendency to be unreliable, fortunately when caught on a good day, he was breath taking in my opinion.

[mxwhisper]

Bravo always Joan, greatly missed from the stage.